Why small is beautiful with these mews apartments and gate lodge

IF it is true that the best goods come in small parcels, then contenders on the house front could be the two mews apartments and gate lodge at Floraville, on the Boreenmanna Road in Cork.

Bijou is probably too big a word to describe the one-bed lodge.

It has got only around 200 sq ft of space, and this is made up of a 12’ by 10’ kitchen/living room, a bathroom with shower and an 8’ by 7’ bedroom.

The lodge, at the city end of the convenient Boreenmanna Road, has a price guide of €160,000, and comes with a private garden area and a parking space.

While the square footage is low, the building has a high roof and a new owner could maximise cubic area and look at a loft-type gallery space overhead.

Estate agents CB Hamilton Osborne King are selling the lodge, two c.500 sq ft mews homes, and a 4,000 sq ft office building, originally a private house called Floraville, which is being vacated by consulting engineering firm Malachy Walsh and Partners after 30 years in occupation.

Up past the lodge, along the drive towards the commercial building, are two adjoining mews properties, built in the 1980s and rented out in recent years.

They have an almost Mediterannean feel, or at least do in the fine weather of the last few weeks, and you could almost imagine bougainavillia draped over the first floor balconies, glimpsed through an archway.

These two similar units also have one bedroom apiece, at ground level, have a hall with spiral staircase and bathroom, and a first floor sitting room 15’ by 11’ with fireplace, balcony and fitted kitchens.

They each have gas heating, separate entrances, a parking space and they share a garden.

Jarleth Boyd of CB Hamilton Osborne King seeks €175,000 each.

Buyers also have the option of buying the entire Floraville property